Both Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith have apologised after an ugly row in the final press conference before their middleweight clash on Saturday night.
Smith questioned his opponent’s sexuality in offensive comments and Eubank Jr responded with questions about his rival’s social class and accused him of cheating on his wife.
Sky Sports made their own apology for the “offensive and homophobic” language and later removed the streamed event from their YouTube channel.
Promoter Ben Shalom said: “Tensions were high and the fighters have apologised.”
The fractiousness between Eubank Jr and Smith has long been bubbling over but took an unpleasant turn in the press conference.
During the exchange, Smith said: “Chris, you go on about girls, mate, has anybody in this room ever seen you with a girl? Have you got something to tell us? Because you’re 33. Do you want to tell us something? Because nobody in this room has ever seen you with a woman. Do you have something you want to tell us?”
Eubank Jr hit back at Smith’s comments, saying: “Listen, my private life is my private life. That’s irrelevant to the boxing but I’m happy, I’m comfortable.
“If you want to get dark and personal with it, talking about being gay and do I like girls. I’ve been told by multiple sources that you cheat on your wife on occasion. So, glass houses mate. Let’s just relax on the personal stuff. I’d rather be gay than a cheat.”
In the aftermath of the duo’s verbal sparring, Smith apologised for his comments and said: “We both probably crossed the line with some of the language we said”.
Eubank Jr, meanwhile, said the outburst was understandable ahead of a big fight in Manchester on Saturday night.
“Everybody reacts in different ways to getting ready to fight another man,” he said. “He’s so hell-bent on trying to prove he’s not rattled that he just went off the rails and I had to put him in line.
“We both went there, it got personal, that’s ok. Boxing is personal, fighting another man is one of the most personal things you can do. So, I get it.
“But I’ve always wanted to win this fight by knockout. The fact that Liam is being a child up here, it gives me a bit of extra incentive to embarrass him.”
